


Burn

by Thesilentone



Category: Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Exhaustion, M/M, Materia, Medical Conditions, Romance, Romantic Fluff, Trauma
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-09
Updated: 2016-01-15
Packaged: 2018-05-12 20:36:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 18,560
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5679850
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thesilentone/pseuds/Thesilentone
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>I feel it in my veins....</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi.  
> I'm back!!!  
> First of all, happy new year to each and every one of you. As promised, this is the original idea i had before i wrote 'safe', however some of the aspects of that story are in this one.  
> Cloud has the same rank (commander in the army)  
> He has the same uniform and weapons (dual swords and hunter knifes), if those who haven't read 'safe' before. 
> 
> Also, some of the characters are mentioned in this story also.  
> For now, i'll post up just this chapter and see what you think of it. As before, it won't deter me, this will have an end, and i also know how long it'll take to get there.  
> So without further ado, here's the original version of 'safe', it's a brand new story, and not a rewrite of the mentioned story in case you are wondering if it's a repeat. 
> 
> Also, this story contains romantic scenarios of the four SOLDIERS and cloud, although not graphic, i will apologise up front and know that i never meant to cause any offence to anyone.  
> Enjoy and feedback is always welcome!!  
> :D

Burn part 1 

Full disclaimer applies. I don't own final fantasy vii, it's world or its characters, nor do I intend to profit from them. All rights belong to Square Enix. 

This was how he would like to be woken up if he had the choice. 

Lying on his front wearing nothing but his boxers and a blanket settled on his lower waist, cloud felt the weight of his boyfriend slowly making his way up his back. Once in the center, zack gently laid feather light kisses upon his shoulder blades and down his spine.

Laughing at the sensation, cloud was about to ask what has gotten into him when a bellow could be heard outside the room. 

“Puppy, stop sexually harassing the boy and get your hyper ass out here!!”

Stopping temporarily, zack groaned and lifting himself up. Turning cloud around, he caressed his hair back with care and murmured against his forehead. 

“Morning kid. Ready to go? I know that you only just got back yesterday, sorry i wasn't there to welcome you home. You up for this?”  
Sealing the question with a gentle kiss, cloud merely nodded, which zack took to mind and helped the young man up. 

Coming out of the ensuite bathroom dressed in his uniform, cloud was just about to grab his boots until zack grabbed them for him and slung an arm around his shoulders and lead the pair out to greet the others. 

Cloud had returned from a trip to junon and had only got back six hours ago, genesis was there to bring him back and upon entering genesis's apartment, he collapsed in exhaustion. Genesis immediately pulled him into a warm hug and allowed the boy to sleep in his arms until he placed him gently into his own room here. He would've loved cloud to stay in his arms, but he knew that cloud would prefer his own space for a little while. 

Entering the kitchen, cloud was pulled in by genesis before he even got to say 'morning’ to angeal and sephiroth. 

“You, my beautiful blonde need some more rest. Unfortunately shinra don't care, as long as his men produce results he will make them work. Cloud? We can get you some time off, if you want?”

Smiling at his concern, cloud shook his head in a negative answer before genesis pulled back and cupped his face between his hands. He could clearly see the exhaustion in his baby blues, but unfortunately cloud was still on active duty, and unless he asked his boyfriends to use their position to his advantage, he was to work. So decision made, cloud would have to suck it up and deal with it. 

“Gen? I'm sure i'm able to handle this. It's a standard operation right? As soon as it done i promise i will go back to sleep and won't wake up til the end of the day. Deal?”

Smiling in confirmation, genesis gave him a kiss to his forehead and allowed him to carry on getting ready. 

Sitting down beside angeal, cloud was putting on his boots while zack was retrieving his swords, harness and his knifes also. Doing up his second boot, cloud stopped when he felt a hand gently stroking the back of his head, turning around he smiled at sephiroth, who had just finished his breakfast. 

“Morning. You ok?”  
“Good morning cloud. I'm well Thank-you however, i can see what genesis is concerned about. Cloud? You are clearly showing signs of exhaustion. Would you like me to sign you off?”

Shaking his head, cloud stood up in time for zack to motion with his index finger to turn around. With his arms spread eagle, zack began to attach his harness while cloud reassured his general and boyfriend. 

“I feel like crap and my legs are heavy. But honestly? This mission has been assigned to us for a specific reason, cancelling my role will cause unnecessary delay. But, i promise to let you know if it's too much and i need a break. Is that ok?”

Nodding in understanding, albeit reluctantly, sephiroth calmly approached the pair standing up, taken the blades away from zack so that he can do a better job applying cloud's equipment on, he turned to check on angeal. Currently, the man had been watching cloud the moment he had entered into the living room. 

He could as well as the others, clearly see how much weariness is in cloud's whole demeanour, and whilst their relationship status was known and respected, cloud wouldn't be best pleased if they went behind his back and took him off. The best they can do is to keep an eye on him and the moment it becomes too much for cloud, they will intervene. 

“Ok. Done, sephiroth pass his swords, would ya?” 

Sighing at zack's butchering of the english language, sephiroth calmly gave him the sheathed blades over. A final tug here and there and cloud was ready for work. 

And with that, genesis, zack and sephiroth headed to the door, grabbing their respective swords and prepared themselves also. 

Grabbing hold of his fingerless gloves, cloud was putting them on when angeal grabbed hold of his hands and did it for him. 

“Angeal?”  
“Cloud. You are strong as you are stubborn. Nevertheless, alert us if you need anything from us. Ok,”  
“Ok.”

Smiling softly at his youngest lover, angeal pushed away his bangs and headed to the door, with cloud's now gloved hand in his own, the five set out. 

This was there first time they are all working together and they were excited. 

None of them knew what to expect, they just hoped for the best. 

For cloud's sake, they hope it'll end soon. 

TBC


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Don't be blind to what you can truly see.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi.   
> Thanks for the kudos this has already received!!  
> I will post up two chapters a day, i'm in the process of writing the third and fourth so i will post up the second now and the third later on today.   
> Thanks again and enjoy!  
> :D

Burn part 2

Full disclaimer applies. I don't own final fantasy vii, it's world or its characters, nor do I intend to profit from them. All rights belong to Square Enix. 

The ride down in the elevator was quiet, save for the yawning from a certain commander strife. Glancing sideways, zack gently pulled cloud into his arms and murmured to his temple. 

“You sure you will be alright? It's not too late to send you back home. It's alright to get a bit more rest, after all, you came back from junon earlier today. I know it seems as if we're nagging, but cloud? Remember, you're not enhanced, you don't have an extra battery so to speak to run on.”

Nodding in understanding, cloud hid another yawn behind his hand and responded to his question. 

“It's alright zack. I know that you all care and i truly appreciate it. But, believe it or not, i know what my body can handle. I gave you my word that the moment it becomes too much, i'll alert you all. Just trust that. Trust me. Please ?”

“You don't need to ask that. You know that we all do.”

Letting the conversation go for the time being, the gang merely rode the rest of the journey down in silence. 

With the exception of the elevator creaking and cloud's yawning. 

They had arrived at the main entrance.   
The three commanders, the lieutenant and the general headed to the group standing by awaiting their arrival. 

Looking up, cloud spotted a man he wasn't expecting to see here. 

“Major garren. Hi sir, i didn't know you were coming along.”

Smiling softly at his young charge, major garren broke away from his group and walked over. Major garren was a SOLDIER first class who is in charge of one of the army units, he actually trained cloud when he arrived in his unit and put forward his recommendation for cloud to become a commander. Needless to say, he was extremely fond of the blonde, which helped when his general is involved with cloud and would like to know how he's doing. Whilst they all knew that cloud can more than take care of himself, it didn't hurt to have a trusted colleague to keep an eye on him once and awhile. It also doesn't hurt to know that said colleague is fond of said commander. 

“Hey you. You doing ok? I'm sorry for making you go to junon, i didn't have anyone else to trust with such a delicate matter as that.”

Smiling softly at his commanding officer, cloud was just about to speak up when he responded with a rather long yawn. 

Frowning at the this, major garren turned to see his young charge's lover's each sporting various levels of worry on their faces. 

“Cloud? I'm sure that you've already had this to ad nauseum, but do you want to sit this out?”

Closing his eyes briefly, cloud opened them and gave him a firm but nevertheless gentle sounding answer. 

“Major. I'm going to do this. I'm good.”  
“Very well. I'm keeping my eyes on you though.”  
“Understood.”

Nodding in comprehension, major garren turned to his general, saluted, shook hands with him and rallied the troops in. 

“All right men. Eyes up front, the general's here!!!”

Stopping whatever they were doing, the SOLDIERS and army formed up and waited for the general to speak. 

“Thank-you major garren. All right men. As of five hours ago, a convoy carrying recently discovered mako crystals and raw materia was taken by force by an unknown group of assailants. There motives are unknown, as is there final plans. However, if they manage to tap into the mako, it could be catastrophic for all involved. Our orders are to scope out the location of the assailants and retrieve the mako in any way possible. Understood?”

“SIR! YES SIR!”

And with that, the men filed out and headed to their respective vehicles. 

 

Cloud was leaning his head back against the vehicle's interior walls, he told himself he was merely resting his eyes for a while. He awoke to the feeling of his head being pulled beneath someone's chin. Too tired to even care, cloud merely allowed the action and got himself comfortable. 

Meanwhile, angeal, sephiroth and zack were watching all of this unfold in front of them. Cloud probably wasn't even aware he was being pulled in by genesis, but he obviously trusted them all to allow this. And that, despite the reason why cloud was comforted, gave the other four a reason to smile and feel proud that cloud, who was unenhanced, trusted them implicitly in such a state of exhaustion. 

“Angeal? When we get back, we're putting cloud on leave. Right?”  
“Indeed we will puppy.”

Smiling softly, zack gently laid back and watched the scenery change. 

They had arrived twenty minutes later and after genesis exited the vehicle cloud, having followed suit, immediately turned his attention to the building they are right outside of. 

“Strife. You good?”  
Nodding in confirmation, major garren merely patted his head and walked over to sephiroth who was analysing the satellite image of the area. 

Cloud felt weird here. He didn't know what it was that was causing the pain in his gut, but cloud had a feeling that something bad was about to happen. 

A hand carding through the back of his head alerted cloud to genesis. 

“Hey.”  
“Cloud? You've gone pale. What is it?”  
“Gen. I, I feel sick. Don't get me wrong, i'm capable of doing this, but i feel woozy. Ever since we arrived here, the moment i saw that building.”

Nodding in understanding, genesis pulled cloud into his arms, cradling his head, genesis spoke softly to his temple. 

“It's the mako. You are sensitive to it after all. It's impressive that you can sense it from ten kilometres away. However, this is also a dangerous thing to you. Cloud? The moment, and I MEAN IT, the moment you get a headache you tell me, angeal, zack, sephiroth or garren. Ok?”

Nodding in agreement, genesis merely pulled him in closer to him to stand with the others. Plainly aware that all eyes were shifting between him and sephiroth, cloud could clearly see the questioning looks he was receiving, having still being in genesis's arms. At this point though, cloud couldn't care less and even went so far as to lean in more. Which caused genesis to smirk, pull cloud closer and daring anyone to say something. 

Naturally, nobody did. 

Sephiroth had finished his rundown with major garren and angeal and turned to see cloud in genesis's arms. Once he made his way over, cloud winced in distress, which caused genesis to cup his face and angeal to come over with a potion to help. Sephiroth meanwhile, felt uneasy about it, looking at genesis's face however, he knew that he wasn't to blame for cloud's health predicament. 

“Cloud. Here, take a sip, it'll do you some good.”   
Thanking angeal, cloud took a few mouthfuls and closed his eyes briefly. 

“What happened to cloud?” Was sephiroth's question about the reaction he got from cloud when he tried to approach. 

“He can sense the mako here. You have a high level of it in your system, since we're near a high concentration of it and a raw form to boot, cloud is more susceptible to mako sickness. Even if yours is diluted so to speak.”

At that, zack pipped in. 

“Wait a minute. Don't you get mako sickness by touching it or it being administered?”

“Not necessarily pup. If you are hypersensitive to mako, it can cause a reaction like the one cloud is experiencing now. Cloud? I really don't like you being out here. Maybe you best wait in the vehicle.”

However it was sephiroth who spoke up first. 

“No. It's that reason strife is here. Because he can sense the mako. He'll be able to locate the source of it easier than us idly walking around.”

“Hold on a damn second sephiroth!! Screw that, this could KILL cloud. You know that, Right?!”

“Zack…”

Wincing at the tone of zack's voice, cloud pulled away from genesis who still kept a hand on him and spoke softly. 

“It's true zack. That's the main reason I was asked to join the mission. I can lead you to the mako and then leave.”

“No cloud. It's not alright!! It's..”  
“ENOUGH. Zack! We are going to do this. Strife? Are you well enough?”

“Yes sir.”  
“Very good. Let's go!”

And with that, the men broke up into groups, with cloud with his partner's.

To say the atmosphere around the group was tense, was putting it mildly. 

Zack was shooting daggers to the back of seph's head, whist angeal tried to calm him down.   
Genesis meanwhile, was holding onto a very sick cloud and both were taken their time. That was fine.. Until sephiroth gave his opinion on the matter. 

“You two, stop dragging your feet. The quicker we recover the mako, the quicker we can leave.”

At that, angeal spoke up himself.   
“No sephiroth. Take a look at cloud. A REAL look at him.”

Stopping sephiroth calmly turned around and immediately he looked beyond worried. 

Cloud's breathing was heavy and quick. He looked as if he were on the verge of passing out by the way he was going at it. And his appearance wasn't any better. He was completely soaked in sweat, his hair was damp and sticking to his forehead and there was a sheen of sweat covering his bare arms from his elbows. 

“It may be fine for us to get the mako as soon as possible, but not in the expense of your men. That's your teachings to SOLDIER. this isn't worth losing cloud to. Genesis? You and cloud take a break. Me and zack are heading in deeper to scout it out. Sephiroth? Stand guard over them.”

Without waiting for a response, the pair left, with genesis carefully pulling cloud into his arms and sat them down on the floor.   
Once checking that his vitals although shaky, were stable, genesis gave cloud a warm hug and kissed his temple over and over again. Genesis knew that if they carried on, cloud may end up falling into a coma like state if they continued. But, he also knew cloud was the only one who had the ability to sense the one thing that could kill him. Talk about irony… 

Sephiroth carefully approached the pair, upon receiving a glare he rightly deserved from genesis, he bent down lower, caressed cloud's hair away from his face and gave him a well deserved apology. 

“I'm sorry for making you push yourself cloud. I don't want harm to befall you. Will you forgive me?”

Cloud merely nodded slowly in acceptance before he was pulled against genesis even tighter. 

“No more movement cloud. You are pushing yourself as it is. And you sephiroth? Back off, it's only because of cloud that we have got this far.”

Nodding in understanding, sephiroth calmly gave cloud a warm kiss to his sweaty forehead and allowed him to try and recover. A feat that won't happen here. 

Coming back, angeal gave cloud a warm smile and gave his general the rundown. 

“They have isolated themselves in a bunker. It's a one way route but there are access tunnels that circulate around the centre. We can enter undetected.”

Nodding in understanding, sephiroth calmly approached the pair on the floor and checked on their operation status. 

“Genesis. Cloud. Are you ready?”  
“Yes. Cloud?”  
“Yeah”

And with that, the five headed to the lion's den. 

TBC


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A true test of will is whether you are prepared to do what must be done.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi again!!
> 
> As promised, here's the second chapter for today.   
> The next update will be tomorrow.   
> Enjoy!!  
> :D

Burn part 3

Full disclaimer applies. I don't own final fantasy vii, it's world or its characters, nor do I intend to profit from them. All rights belong to Square Enix. 

 

It was slow getting there, but they made it without a sound. The five split up, angeal and zack took the back end, genesis went of to the left hand side whilst sephiroth and cloud headed to the front. 

Sephiroth was keeping an eye on cloud throughout the whole journey. He was breathing heavier than earlier and he was sweating more than before, if that was actually possible. 

Hugging up against the wall, sephiroth knelt down, bringing cloud down with him and watched the guards shift positions. 

Looking at cloud, sephiroth cupped his face and softly spoke to him. 

“You are in the first stages of mako poisoning. I know that you have no chance of recovery whilst down here. Cloud? The moment it is over, major garren is removing you from here. Can you deal with this for now?”

Cloud's eyes were glazing over but he stubbornly held on to his consciousness and nodded in agreement. Sephiroth eased himself up and with cloud behind him, lend the charge. 

At that instance, all sides converge to the main bunker and were wiping out the enemy as they came out in droves.   
Cloud, although suffering from exhaustion and mako sickness, was keeping up with the other's, even more so, he was holding his ground, no one was getting past him. 

Major garren had arrived shortly and his unit were securing the materials as they speak. Looking at cloud, garren approached the young man, took care of the last of his adversaries and placed a hand on his shoulder to signalised his arrival. 

Lowering his hands and swords, cloud turned to see his major and soon enough, crumpled to the ground, with reflexes of a SOLDIER, major garren caught him before he fell and pulled him into his arms. 

Pushing away his hair from his face, garren whispered into his ear. 

“You did good kid. Let's get you outta here.”

However, before cloud could agree, a loud roar was echoing around the walls.   
Angeal, genesis and zack had landed in front of the pair, with swords out in front, angeal breathed out a warning. 

“Mack. Get cloud out of here now. One of the materia is a newly awoken summon. And you know how they can be. We'll cover you.”

Before garren could even mutter out a confirmation, the summon made itself known. 

It was a bahamut. And it was in 'berserk’ mode to boot. Naturally, zack was the first to review the situation. 

“That dragon looks pissed. Doesn't it?”  
“Puppy. Not now.”  
Was genesis's only response before the trio headed in to face it. 

It was insane. The SOLDIERS were making moves that the unenhanced eye could barely make out. Sephiroth had returned to see zack and genesis jumping up and simultaneously stabbing the dragon in the back. However, that did nothing but infuriate the beast further. 

Popping it's back, the summon threw his passengers off and flew upwards.   
Landing on the ground with a grunt, zack and genesis could only watch as bahamut was powering up a flare. 

“Shit!! Everybody!! Barriers up, now!”

No sooner had genesis barked out the order, bahamut fired out the meteor size ball of fire and everything melted away. 

Crackling was all that could be heard. The barriers that the SOLDIERS had erected were melting away as if you hovered a piece of glass over a naked flame. The only person who was still standing was unsurprisingly, sephiroth. 

Groaning from the sheer weight of the heat, angeal wrapped an arm around zack's shoulders to see if he was ok.

“Puppy. You ok?”  
“Just peachy. And you. How are you and genesis?”

Sighing in relief, angeal turned to see genesis cradling his ribs. Covering zack's ears, angeal bellowed to him. 

“Genesis!! You alright?”  
Sitting up properly, genesis gave him a firm nod and smile before carrying out healing his ribs. Seeing clearly now, angeal can make out the burn on his side, although red raw, genesis was already healing it.

Turning back to zack, angeal gave him a once over and soon spotted zack was sporting his own burns. Pulling out his healing materia, angeal began healing zack, who started speaking. 

“Thanks 'geal. Hey wait a second, where is cloud? Oh God, please tell me mack got him outta here.”

Hearing that, angeal began looking around for their lover and garren, however, with the amount of smoke still hovering as well as debris and small fires still burning , even with the enhancements, visibility is low. 

“I don't know. Pup, we'll try and find them soon. However, we have bigger problems. Can you fight still?”  
Nodding that he can, the pair got up and prepared to help out sephiroth. 

Once the pair were in position behind sephiroth, he merely turned his head slightly and began to speak. 

“Garren and cloud are still here i take it?”  
“I'm not sure, i can't see with all of this smoke.”  
“Hmm. Get ready, it's coming.”

And sephiroth was right, no sooner had they had finished talking, the dragon charged straight at them. Bending their knees, at the very last minute, the trio jumped on the back of bahamut and simultaneously cast lightning attacks. 

 

Genesis meanwhile, was finally able to get back up and immediately saw garren holding a barely conscious cloud in his arms. 

Pushing away his fears, genesis ran up to the pair, knelt down and began checking the pair over. 

“We're fine genesis. A little banged up but still here. Cloud's breathing has slowed down but he's still with us. First things first, we need to take care of that.”

Smiling softly, genesis took cloud away from garren, placing a hand on his chest, he felt the beating of his heart. Pleased that although dangerously slow, it was still working, genesis laid him down to the ground and with a caress to his forehead, genesis and garren turned to see the others fighting and went in to help. 

“Damn it!!! This isn't working!!! And what the hell genesis?! Why are you here?!?!”

“Nice to see you too fair. Sephiroth, the beast is not immune to lightning, but it needs one big attack, not small, simultaneous ones.”

“Agreed. Alright, angeal, zack, draw out its attention. Meanwhile myself and garren will deal with its attacks. Genesis? You summon.”

And with that plan in place, the five charged in. 

 

He felt numb.   
He knew he was awake and alive, knew that the mako in here was making him sick, and dangerously close to falling into a coma but currently, cloud could only grasp the situation in front of him. 

His lover's were fighting for all of their lives. Major garren was putting himself out there too. Grunting with effort, with shaky arms, cloud got himself up and just as he was about to stand up, a red sphere rolled to his hand. 

Picking it up, cloud could feel ramuh stirring inside. It was a unique gift he had. Purely by accident, genesis had gave him a summon to hold and immediately cloud knew what it was and even can interact with it. Needless to say, the Others were impressed by this. 

A startled curse brought cloud back to see genesis coming to his side. 

“I think that you dropped this.”  
“I do believe that you are correct.”

Smiling softly at his commanding officer, cloud was about to respond when he saw the dragon charge straight at them. No time to think, cloud synchronised his own life-force to the summon and awoke the man inside. 

“CLOUD!! NO!!”

It was too late, before genesis could even speak, cloud had summoned ramuh. 

If an unenhanced being, like cloud had an infinity with materia, instead of using mako, they can tap into their life-force.   
Of Course, it's not without risk.   
The stronger the materia, the more energy is absorbed, the more of your life expectancy is reduced. And they all use mastered materia. 

Normally, cloud can do this and merely collapse and sleep for a couple of days, but considering that he's in the final onset of mako poisoning, this could prove fatal. 

Ramuh raised his staff and with a long reaching swing, slammed the dragon with lightning. 

Sephiroth, angeal, zack and garren watched on as the bahamut blew up in blue flames before returning to the sphere it came from. 

Looking at genesis's arms around cloud's shoulders, sephiroth ran towards the pair while zack retrieved the bahamut summon and angeal and garren turned to see how the other men are doing. 

Once close enough, sephiroth knelt down in front of cloud, cupping his face softly, sephiroth calmly gave cloud some instructions. 

“Cloud. Hand me the materia.”

Sobbing a little bit, cloud looked up at sephiroth and whispered. 

“I can't. It hurts so much”.  
“I know.”

Wrapping a hand around the one cloud is holding the summon with, sephiroth carefully twisted the sphere around so that it fell into his hand instead. 

Feeling the power fading from his hand, cloud merely collapsed straight into sephiroth's open arms. 

Guiding him back to his chest, sephiroth calmly stood up, carried cloud bridal style and carefully made his way over to the others. 

Genesis meanwhile stood up, picked up cloud's swords and went to see the materia the bahamut summon had come from. 

Looking up, zack saw what happened and saw sephiroth holding cloud.   
Genesis had gave him a firm but nevertheless gentle grip to his hand and the pair left to head back to HQ. 

Sephiroth was keeping a firm but nevertheless gentle hold on cloud's body. He hadn't woken the whole time it took for the men to reach the vehicle's and headed back to the shinra building.   
“This is odd.”  
“What is gen.”

Currently, although worried about cloud, genesis, being a master of materia was observing the bahamut summon and came to a conclusion.

“This materia has been tampered with. I will have to do some research but most likely. It was forced to mutation.”

Nodding in comprehension, angeal wrapped an arm around a clearly distraught zack. 

Zack had only seen cloud summon once before and it freaked him out. The only difference was that cloud slept for a couple of days or so and regained his health, although with some difficulties but nevertheless he came back. 

Now though, cloud had summoned when he was close to a full blown mako poisoning induced coma. 

“He never should've come. This is on you sephiroth.”  
“Zack!!”  
“It's alright angeal. Zack? You and i will speak of this later. Garren, alert the medical team. Inform them of a mako poisoning and have them set up a cleansing wash”  
“Way ahead of you general.”

Nodding in gratitude, sephiroth merely brought cloud's head beneath his chin and rode the rest of the journey back in silence. 

TBC


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> If you can choose, which will it be   
> The mission or your lover?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi.   
> Thanks for all the kudos this has received so far, it blows my mind!!  
> Here are two more chapters for today.   
> Next update will be tomorrow.   
> Thanks again and enjoy!!  
> :D

Burn part 4

Full disclaimer applies. I don't own final fantasy vii, it's world or its characters, nor do I intend to profit from them. All rights belong to Square Enix. 

 

Immediately entering the medical building, cloud was whisked away for a mako cleansing wash. 

Simply put, they will force large quantities of saline into his system to purge out the mako he had inhaled or was exposed to. It was nasty, painful and inhumane but, it was the only effective way to get rid of the substance that he was infected with. 

Right now, the four were in the waiting room. And as soon as the door was locked, all of the anger zack had for sephiroth came rushing back. 

“We warned you that this could happen. We may be indispensable to SOLDIER but cloud isn't. Does his life mean anything to you?!”

“Zack!! That's uncalled for!!”

“THE hell it is angeal!! You said so yourself!! Cloud was barely holding on and he got worse the more we got closer to the mako!!”

Sephiroth was merely watching as the young second class openly fumed at him. Once he had made his point across, sephiroth merely raised one of his eyebrows and spoke softly. 

“Are you done?”  
“Yeah. Yeah i'm done.”

“Very good. Raise your voice to me again and you will be sent up to lazard for insurbadianton. I know how you feel, but how dare you assume that i would casually throw away your lives so easily.  
Cloud knew what the risk were the moment he was told of the mission. He chose this, not me. You forget, i may be in charge of the SOLDIERS, but lazard is the main head of them, of us.”

Looking up at sephiroth with tear filled eyes, zack opened the door and left without a sound. 

“Sephiroth. You may be our general firstly, but we're your lover's. The same lover's you come home to. You, my good sir, need to remember that and apologise to zack.”

And with that, genesis headed out to find garren and to check on cloud. 

Angeal merely watched on as comprehension hit sephiroth. Groaning at his own idiocy, sephiroth calmly stood up and went to find zack, leaving behind a amused angeal to go and track down genesis. 

It didn't take long for sephiroth to find zack. Slowly approaching, sephiroth calmly stood between his legs, knelt down and began to speak. 

“My apologies zack. I truly do love you all. But i'm in charge of the whole of the SOLDIERS, not just one man. I would never put cloud or any of you in that position if i can prevent it. Forgive me?”

Zack didn't respond, he merely threw himself into his arms and sephiroth knew that he was forgiven. And all sephiroth could do was reciprocate the action.   
Pulling back slightly, sephiroth cupped his face and softly spoke. 

“Now then, let's get going. We need to check on cloud.”

Smiling softly and Nodding, sephiroth calmly pulled the young man up, with an arm around his shoulders, the pair went to see the others. 

Upon entering the room, sephiroth and zack immediately froze in place by the sounds of agonising screams coming from cloud. 

“It's been going on for about twenty minutes. They can't sedate him, but they only need to wash out the mako two more times.” Major garren spoke up softly to them. 

Having already seen this happen countless times before, garren can compartmentalise this better, even when the person in mind that this happening to is his S.I.C.

“Very well. I'm going to speak with the head doctor. See if we can take cloud home afterwards. Angeal? Can you get hold of lazard, tell him that cloud is on leave as of now?”

Smiling at his concern, angeal took out his phone and did just that. 

Garren turned around and placed a hand on zack's shoulder, once recognition from zack came to him, garren spoke. 

“You know, cloud is holding up well. He's stubborn, but he knows his limits. He never does anything without thinking it through.”

Smiling softly, zack nodded when sephiroth and the doctor returned. 

“Good news. Commander strife is able to be discharged. He will require rest and recuperation. I will fill out the discharge papers for his release.” And with a smile, the doctor excused himself and did just that, leaving behind five very grateful SOLDIERS behind. 

Three hours later, cloud was wheeled out on a gurney. 

The doctor explained that cloud is sedated to ease the discomfort and pain. With instructions to monitor his condition and his temperature and to return him back here immediately if he deteriorates, sephiroth carefully picked up the young man, thanked the medical team and left to return to the vehicle that is waiting outside for them. 

With thanks from the other's, the remaining four left after the general. 

It took a while, but the five had finally made it back home. Saying goodbye and thanks to garren, sephiroth calmly placed cloud on his bed and removed his boots, harness and his knifes before he placed a blanket over him. Placing a hand gently to his face, sephiroth brushed away his hair and placed a lingering kiss to his forehead before leaving. 

They knew that he would wake up. They just didn't know when. 

Having already removed their own gear, angeal was making himself at home at sephiroth's apartment. He was making the men something to eat when sephiroth returned. Having already removed his own jacket, sephiroth calmly stood by the kitchen island and spoke to angeal.

“How's cloud doing?”  
“He remains asleep. We know why.”  
“Sadly, we do. How are we going to break this to zack?”

“Break what to me?” Turning around, angeal placed the knife down, dried his hands and spoke sternly, all the while watching sephiroth lean back against the work tops and folding his arms across his chest. 

“Cloud has mako poisoning, as you know. We may have limited the damage but the effects of the mako have kicked in. On top of that, cloud's use of the summon materia. Zack? He will wake up, but it could take days before that happens.”

Realisation hit zack like a car. 

“So. Cloud will stay in a coma like state until he wakes again. Is that what you are telling me?”

“Yes zack. He's stable and in a fairly good state. Have faith. He'll return to us.”

 

Suddenly, the four didn't feel like eating after all. 

TBC


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Life is like a boat.   
> You swerve back and forth but you still retain your sense of direction.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi.   
> Something i didn't point out sooner, my apologies if the pacing seems rushed, i tried to keep the flow steady without dragging the story, but if i failed then i sincerely apologise and i hope that it doesn't deter you from enjoying this.   
> :D

Burn part 5

Full disclaimer applies. I don't own final fantasy vii, it's world or its characters, nor do I intend to profit from them. All rights belong to Square Enix. 

It has been four days since the mission to locate and retrieve the mako. 

During that time, genesis was studying the bahamut summon personally, he didn't want to know what the science department may do to the poor creature. 

Angeal had taken up the post of training officer for the time being. The original teacher had broken his leg doing something he shouldn't of been doing in the first place and angeal was more than qualified of taking over temporarily. Zack was given missions every now and then to keep him occupied, nothing fancy, but enough to make him break a sweat. 

And sephiroth.. 

He was at home doing any and all paperwork. Cloud had awoken from his coma on the third day, but he was incredibly weak and spent most of his time laying down and resting. 

Glancing sideways, sephiroth smiled at the sleeping young man by his side. Cloud's head was on his thigh and his hands were curled up in sephiroth's shirt. Pulling the blanket over cloud's shoulders up some more, sephiroth caressed his hair back and forth then returned back to his work. 

A shrill noise from his phone had sephiroth glaring at the device. With a whimper from cloud, sephiroth soothed the young man back to sleep before hissing down the phone. 

“Sephiroth here. There had better be a good reason for calling me.”  
“My apologies sir. This is the medical building here.”

Hearing that, sephiroth carded his hand through cloud's hair again, kept it there and spoke to the clearly distressed nurse on the other end. 

“My apologies. It wasn't my intention to upset you. Cloud is asleep at the moment beside me, i simply don't want to wake him unnecessarily.”

“Oh no sir. The fault lies on me. Speaking of commander strife. The results of his lab work confirm that he has a case of mako poisoning. As you know, we have already treated this and his vitals have improved. My name is zara. Later on today if possible, i need to get another blood sample. Rest assured that i will never allow this to reach the science department. I know it's not much, my word and all, but you can trust me. I know commander strife really well. There's no rush, but as soon as he wakes up, ask him of me and then call me back on this number.”

“Will do. Thank-you zara. I will speak to you soon.”  
“And to you also.”

Hanging up, sephiroth placed the phone back on the coffee table and turned to see how he's doing. Whilst the cleansing had done what it's meant to, the mako took its toll on the man beside him. Massaging his scalp, sephiroth went back to the bane of every SOLDIER'S existence. 

Three hours later, genesis had returned, and judging from the scowl on his face, he looked pissed. When he's in this state however, it's best to leave it be. 

Taking off his red coat, sporting the standard SOLDIER uniform with long sleeves instead, genesis gave sephiroth a curt nod before he left to take a shower.   
He returned back with a plain white shirt and flannel trousers. Sitting down beside sephiroth, genesis peered over his shoulder and asked him some questions. 

“Is that all you have been doing? Paperwork?”  
“Yes. It's one of my responsibilities. You all are blissfully unaware of how much i do for you all.”  
“And we love you for it. How's my precious doing?”

Smiling at genesis's nickname for cloud, sephiroth merely leaned back and allowed genesis to see for himself. 

Genesis meanwhile, didn't just look around, nope, he stood up and knelt down beside his head. 

Pushing away his bangs, genesis flinched when his actions woke up cloud. 

Getting a glare from sephiroth, genesis merely shrugged in apology and turned to see cloud weakly smile at him. 

“You're home. Hey gen.”  
“Hello yourself precious. How are you feeling?”  
“Mmm. Tired. Seph, am i disturbing you?”

Smiling softly, sephiroth merely brought cloud up and placed him in his lap.   
Bringing his head beneath his chin, sephiroth spoke softly. 

“The only disturbance i have is on my table in front of me.”

Laughing softly, cloud eased himself up and turned to see genesis looking at him in worry. 

“Gen? What's wrong?”  
“Cloud. You're bleeding.”

Sure enough, cloud was indeed suffering a nosebleed. Sephiroth eased himself up, placed cloud by his side, reached across the table and grabbed some tissues. Pushing cloud down, genesis took the tissue from sephiroth, pinched cloud's nose and waited for the bleeding to stop. 

Needless to say, cloud was terrified about this, seeing his shoulders shake in a telltale sign of crying, sephiroth calmly pulled cloud into his arms with genesis following suit and reassured the frightened young man. 

“This is a side effect of the cleansing wash. A lot of water was forced into you with such pressure that it may cause eruptions of blood vessels. This will pass. In the meantime, relax and let us help you.”

Crying softly, cloud eased himself more into a comfortable position, awaited the bleeding to stop and then drifted back to sleep. 

“Sephiroth. This can get worse before it gets better. What did the medical team say?”

“We need to monitor any changes to cloud's vitals, temperature and to keep an eye on bleeding of any kind and note the duration, location and the severity of it.”

Sighing heavily but letting the matter go, genesis picked up the blanket that fell off and placed it back over cloud's sleeping body. Although still worried about him, they knew that cloud had only just awoken, in time, he'll get better. But for now? They will keep a steady watch over him. 

Zack had returned from his latest mission two later. Judging by the blood splatter over him, it was monster hunting.   
“Zack. Go and take a shower please? You smell enough to wake up cloud.”

Laughing softly at genesis's remark, zack stuck out his tongue and did what he was told. 

Cloud had awoken not to long afterwards and upon sitting up slowly, he began to whimper.   
It was sephiroth who spoke up first. 

“Cloud? What's wrong?”  
“I think i'm going to be sick..”

No sooner had he spoke, cloud violently threw up in the trashcan provided by genesis. 

Hearing the sounds of cloud regurgitating, zack came over with a clean face cloth and handed it over to a grateful sephiroth and sat down beside him. 

“It's alright zack, i'm fine, really.”  
Smiling softly at him, zack gently pulled cloud away from the bin which genesis took care of. 

“Cloud. Do you know of a nurse called zara?”  
“Yeah. Upon becoming a commander, i broke two of my fingers. She took care of me.”  
“Ohhh, cloud's got a girlfriend!!”  
“Shut it zack.”

Ignoring the pair arguing about who knows what, sephiroth went back to the topic at hand. 

“She wants to come by and take a blood sample. When will you be able to handle this?”

“When it's suitable for you guys here.”

Nodding in understanding, sephiroth stood up, went to the kitchen and prepared to get dinner ready. 

Hopefully angeal will return soon. 

That, and no other surprises to pop up whilst they wait. 

TBC


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eventually, all birds must leave their nest.   
> It's how they learn to survive

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi.   
> Thanks so, so much for the reception this story has received!!  
> Here's two more chapters for today.  
> Enjoy!!!  
> :D

Burn 6 

Full disclaimer applies. I don't own final fantasy vii, it's world or its characters, nor do I intend to profit from them. All rights belong to Square Enix. 

 

A week has passed since the whole mako mission had been officially finalised. Well to be more accurate, it's been nearly a week and a half and yet it felt like only yesterday. 

Cloud, with adamant complaints from the other's to take some time off, had returned to active duty. Zara, as promised, came by to take a blood sample and the results showed that there is trace elements of mako still in his body but it'll be safe for him to carry on. With some anti nausea medication, cloud was cleared for duty. 

“Cloud. I really think that you should stay at home, at least for now. An extra day off won't kill you, you know.”

Yeah, zack wasn't letting cloud go back to work so easily. Believe it or not, zack has been making this exact point across for the past twenty minutes. 

“Zack. Please don't worry about me. I'm healthy, i passed angeal's fitness requirements and did the mandatory five- k run. I'm good.”

“Yeah but…”

“ZACK!! Enough, let the boy go.”

Apparently, cloud wasn't the only one who had it up to here with zack's complaints, genesis did also. 

Cloud, at that point, stood up, gathered his swords and harness and stood between zack's legs. Placing the gear by zack's seated form, cloud bent down where he stood, placing his hands on zack's kneecaps, he softly spoke up. 

“I love you. I do, you were and still are my best friend. But, i love what i do for a living. I threat and worry about you guys all the time, the only thing that keeps me sane is the knowledge that you know how to look after yourselves. Well, so do i, zack? I'm ok. Really.”

Smiling softly, zack cupped his face, brought their foreheads together and spoke. 

“You are a gift to me cloud. You're my best friend also. I don't think that i will ever lose my protective streak i have over you. But, i will try and lessen the severity of it.” Smiling softly, zack and cloud simultaneously lent into the other and sealed there words to the other with a lingering kiss. 

Pulling away, albeit reluctantly, zack pulled cloud up and helped him out with his gear. Once his harness and swords were in place, zack gently pulled cloud into his arms and murmured to his temple. 

“I will start now, but just for today, promise me that you'll take it easy and the first sign of feeling ill, you call me and inform mack. Ok?”

Nodding in agreement, zack gently pulled back, cupped his face once again and placed a lingering kiss to his forehead before letting him go. With a wave goodbye and a bellow to genesis, cloud left, leaving behind a happy but concerned zack. 

“He'll be alright puppy. Mack's with him and you know how much he cares for cloud. It's the same as you and angeal. Even now when you are now involved with him, that love and respect for each other as teacher and student still remains. Don't worry.”

Smiling softly at genesis's remark, zack turned around, smiled brightly at him and prepared himself for his day of work. 

Making his way over to his major, cloud felt good. He understood the reasons and concerns that zack and the others had, but they all knew that eventually cloud would return back to work. When major garren turned around and saw cloud approaching, he excused himself and met the man halfway. 

“Strife. You look good. You ok though?”  
“Never been better sir.”

Smiling softly, Mack pulled him into a warm hug which was immediately reciprocated without delay. Softly cradling the back of his head, garren whispered into his ear. 

“Don't ever make me worry like that again kid. I've had many students come and go but none have molded themselves to me quite like you have. I'm glad to have you back. I missed you.”

Swallowing the tears and sobs back, cloud merely grabbed hold of his shirt more tightly and spoke. 

“I know and i'm sorry for making you worry about me. I'm glad to have you in my life also. I'll make it up to you, i promise.”

Smiling, mack pulled back, cupped his face and wiped away the tears that did manage to fall before wrapping an arm around his shoulders and led them back to the unit where cloud received a chorus of welcome backs.

 

“So, cloud's back to work? Any ideas about his new mission?”  
“it's a standard operation to retrieve a piece of equipment that can sense large quantities of mako underground. You can see why the heads up stairs are worried about it.”

Currently, angeal and sephiroth were in sephiroth's office. It didn't take long for the higher ups to assign 'go’ status for cloud, and what better mission to ease cloud back in than a quick, simple retrieval?

“Who's leading the mission?”  
“Garren is. Along with cloud, it's seven men in total.”

Nodding in understanding, angeal turned his attention back to the vehicle that is waiting for the unit to leave. 

“Angeal? Cloud is fit for work. He was trained by one of the best men here. He also underwent the reaction and response training that you oversaw, he'll be fine.”

Humming in response to sephiroth's statement, angeal took his leave, not however, without giving his general his own response. 

“I envy how you compartmentalise. I wish i knew how to do so.”

Leaving, angeal never heard sephiroth's answer. 

“It takes a lot of restraint to stop me from preventing you all to go.”

They had reached their destination relatively quickly. Dismounting out of the vehicle, the unit was split up with garren and cloud partnering up whilst the others went into groups of three. 

“Alright men, fan out, search for the machinery and report back in!”  
“YES SIR!”

And with that, the men were dismissed and went to carry out their orders. 

Making their way to the first warehouse, cloud was just about to enter when an alert system was triggered and a laser was fired directly at him.   
Before he could get his footing, garren had already stepped up and pulled him away within a hair's breadth away from being shot at. 

Sitting between mack's squatted legs, cloud leaned his head back against his shoulder and spoke. 

“Sorry sir. I should've been paying more attention, i'm usually better than this.”

Looking down, garren merely laughed at his S.I.C's facial expressions and reassured him. 

“It's alright cloud. You've only just got back. It's not a problem. Now then, are you up for a fight?”

Nodding that he was, garren hoisted him up. Both drawing out their respective swords, the pair charged straight in. 

It was hectic. The booby traps fired lasers sporadically, there was no patterns just aim fire. 

It took a while, but cloud had figured out the pattern of what laser was going to fire first. But before he could let his major know of it, cloud immediately fell to his knees and began coughing up blood. Major garren, who had seen him fall, pulled out a mastered fire materia and burnt the whole building down. 

Running to his side, garren immediately pulled cloud into his arms, cradling his head and chest, garren cupped his neck and blanched at his temperature and pulse. 

“Cloud! What is it?! What's wrong?!”

Cloud was barely holding on to his consciousness but he was able to wheeze out a response. 

“I...I don't know…. My.. I feel… as… if… my… insides… are… burning..”

Hearing this, garren carefully placed him down to the ground and immediately a medic in their unit came over. Once close enough, the man pulled out a healing materia and upon casting the spell, cloud immediately screamed in sheer agony. 

“Hey!! Stop!!!”  
Stopping his spell, the man pulled away and allowed the major to take care of his leader. At this point, major garren knew what was wrong with cloud and called in the medical team to standby when they get back. 

 

“What the hell!! What happened to cloud?!?!”

“Mako burns.”

“But i thought that the cleansing wash had removed the mako from his system.”

“It did. But the trace elements of mako still in his body had did some internal damage that the wash couldn't clean out. The mako cloud had inhaled that was in the atmosphere had already bonded into his cells. And for a person that is hypersensitive to it such as cloud, it's extremely fatal.”

Sephiroth was informed of the incident the moment major garren had returned from his mission. He was able to retrieve the device, unfortunately it cost him his subordinate. 

Presently, sephiroth had only managed to inform zack of cloud's condition. Sadly, it didn't look very good for him. 

“But then, can't we just cure him? That should work right?!”

“No zack. The materia is mako in a condensed form, doing so will only harm him more. As major garren has informed me of.”

“Damn it!!”   
Damn it indeed. 

TBC


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You must realise that you don't dictate how things should go. It's merely an illusion to deceive you all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a quick note to say that some of the chapters will follow the one before it, like this one does.   
> :)

Burn part 7

Full disclaimer applies. I don't own final fantasy vii, it's world or its characters, nor do I intend to profit from them. All rights belong to Square Enix. 

 

Cloud really was in a bad way.  
There wasn't a machine in his room that he wasn't connected to. He had a ventilator down his throat which was pumping oxygen to his lungs, judging by the way his chest was rising and falling. 

Cloud also had two IV'S to each hand also. If you didn't know any better, you would think that cloud was merely asleep.  
Sitting down beside him, zack gently took one of his hands into his own and softly spoke, as if anything louder than a whisper might destroy the silence. 

“C'mon kid. Don't keep me waiting, you know how much i hate it. You also know that me and patience don't get along very well.”

Sephiroth meanwhile, was speaking to the main doctor to get an accurate account of his prognosis. 

“Commander strife has been put in a medically induced coma. The pain he's in is so severe that without taking this drastic action, commander strife will suffer tremendously. Please know that we didn't take this action lightly. It was the only option left for us to take. Another cleansing wash would do no good i'm afraid.”

Sighing heavily, sephiroth merely peered inside the room where cloud was and spoke without returning his gaze back to the doctor. 

“How long do you plan to keep cloud in his coma?”

“Honestly? I'm not sure. We are monitoring his brain activity as well as managing his pain threshold. We will wake him up to see his tolerance to it, the instant it becomes too much, we'll immediately put him back under again,but that won't be happening anytime soon. Please excuse me, i'll be back with you shortly.”

And with that, the doctor excused himself, leaving behind a anxious general. 

Angeal had arrived twenty minutes later, and along with genesis, both could tell just by looking at zack just how bad cloud is doing. 

Entering the room, angeal placed a hand on zack's shoulder and squeezed. That immediate action caused zack to cry, without delay, angeal wrapped an arm around his shoulders and led them to a sofa that was also in the room. 

Genesis took the space that zack had vacated and repeated the action that zack had done not to long ago. 

“How did this happen? I mean, i know what happened but still. How?”

Nodding that he understood, angeal wrapped his hands around zack's own and sat with him in silence. A silence that didn't last long as sephiroth had returned along with major garren. 

“Mack. Are you alright?” Was surprising genesis's who spoke up upon seeing the equally distraught major. 

“As well as can be expected. And stupid question i know, but how are all of you?”

Laughing bitterly, zack pulled away and all but plunged at the man, if not for sephiroth catching him.

“The hell do you think?! Look at him. You all said that cloud was ready and now look! He's in a coma!!”

“Zack. Calm yourself. It's not garren's fault. Take a breather and lower your voice. This is a hospital, learn to control your behaviour. I won't allow a respectable man to behave this way.”

And with a scolding that would make even the most confident person quiver, zack was released and left without a sound. 

“Our apologies mack. Zack means well and once he calms a little he'll apologise to you. He likes you.”

“It's alright angeal. Zack is angry and rightfully so. I'm responsible for what happened.”

“No we are. Major, cloud felt the need to get back to work, none of this is on you. Please don't blame yourself. I know that cloud would never do so.”

Allowing his general's words to sink in, garren reluctantly had to leave to inform his unit and file his report. Promising to be back soon, he left. 

Making himself comfortable beside angeal, sephiroth merely took his gloves off and Uncharacteristically, dragged them across his weary face. Which drew up a chuckle from genesis. 

Glaring at the man, sephiroth was about to ask what that was for when genesis beat him to it. 

“Oh. You finally allow yourself to get caught up in the situation. Cloud would be pleased with that.”

His words were layered with melancholy but sephiroth and angeal couldn't help but smile at that. 

They knew that they would be in for a long and bumpy ride. 

But honestly? This is who they are.  
It's what they do.  
And if cloud were awake? He would say the exact same thing. 

TBC


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Allow yourself to dream.   
> It's all you can do for now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi again.   
> The chapters will kinda be on the short end but i assure you that the maximum storytelling will be condensed into them without it losing any of the drama nor dragging the story down.   
> Enjoy the next two chapters for today.   
> :D

Burn part 8

Full disclaimer applies. I don't own final fantasy vii, it's world or its characters, nor do I intend to profit from them. All rights belong to Square Enix. 

 

“So. The slums are getting a bit more monsters than before. Don't know why though, but as long as they don't mutate more i'm good!!”

Stopping at that, zack looked up and saw no change. 

It's been two days since cloud was put into a coma, zack, who had more missions over the course of those days always stopped by soon after to give cloud some company. 

They always said that, when a person is in a coma, their subconsciousness can still hear you. That theory was what zack was clinging onto for dear life. 

“Hey cloud? Remember the day we first met? It seems like only yesterday huh?  
I never thought that the shy, stubborn, blond boy i first met would turn out to be a commander who is just as stubborn as before. Although, you aren't as shy as then. Though you still revert back to your old self sometimes. But i never doubted that you wouldn't go far.”

 

“Zack? You need to get some rest. You've been working nonstop for three days. Go home, don't make me order you. Please zack.”

Nodding in agreement to his general, zack gently leaned over cloud and placed a lingering kiss to his forehead before leaving. Passing by sephiroth, zack turned his head slightly and asked him a question. 

“Is cloud going to be on his own now?”  
“No. I've asked zara if she wouldn't mind keeping him company. She's here now actually.”

Sure enough, zara walked in. Dressed in a pink t-shirt and blue skinny jeans, zara approached the weary young man and softly smiled. 

“It's fine lieutenant. I know cloud, i'll keep him company.”

Smiling in gratitude, zack gave zara a warm hug before returning to angeal's apartment for the day. He really didn't want to be alone right now. 

“Miss zara. I will be checking in with you in approximately two hours later. Is that ok?”  
“Yes, offcourse. I'll speak with you soon.”

And with that, sephiroth gave a glance to cloud, frowned slightly and left. 

“Zack. Please stay still, eat something then sleep.”

It was only fifteen minutes, and yet to angeal, it felt like hours. No sooner had zack came over to his place, he immediately wanted to return to the hospital. Zack merely didn't want cloud to wake up alone. 

“I know angeal. But i'm just too wired to relax, even when i do, all i think about is cloud.”

Sighing heavily but in understanding, angeal wrapped an arm around zack's shoulders and spoke against his temple.   
“I know. It's one of the downsides of SOLDIER, we're always alert. Zack? Eat something then just close your eyes. Don't do anything more than that.”

Smiling, zack reached for the sandwich that angeal had made, he was surprised by just how hungry he actually was. And judging by the chuckle he got from angeal? It clearly showed. 

Taking his plate away, angeal wrapped a blanket over him, turned off his phone and sat down on the opposite couch and settled down to do some paperwork to ease of the workload of sephiroth's. 

“General sephiroth sir. May i please enter?”

“Come in major garren.”

Entering the room, mack could clearly see the exhaustion on the man's face.   
“General sephiroth. Are you alright? Any Word on cloud?”

“Same as before. Cloud's brain waves are stable and are not showing signs of distress. The only thing that is keeping cloud from being awoken is the second degree internal burns.”

Nodding in understanding, garren approached the general. Once close enough, garren placed a hand on his shoulder and with a gentle squeeze, he spoke. 

“It's alright sir. You know as well as i that cloud is a stubborn one. He knows not to keep you all waiting for too long.”

Smiling at his concern, sephiroth merely brought his own hand to the one on his shoulder and patted it a few times before removing them away. 

“Thank-you major. I'm pleased to know that cloud has someone else to go to when the four of us are not around. Cloud may never say it outright, but i know he gets lonely. So, i'm grateful to you.”

“Thank-you sir. He's an amazing young man who i am very fond of. If you guys are ever away, send him to me, i'll keep him safe and in good company.”

“That, i know you will.”  
And with that, the major excused himself. Leaving behind a hopeful general. 

“Hey puppy. You ok there?”  
“Genesis? Hey, you finished for today?”  
“Yes i have. And not only that, i've been given the pleasure of of babysitting you.”

It's been a few hours and zack had to begrudgingly admit that angeal was right. A rest did a mountain of good. 

Genesis came by the moment that angeal was called in to train the troops. He kindly donated his time to keep an eye on the puppy. 

“As if i need that. Where did angeal go?”  
“Gone to help the general with the paperwork. It's been piling up. And on top of that, he's been writing up the report on cloud's medical status.”

“Wait a minute. Are they planning to kick cloud out of the military?!”

“Slow down puppy, it's not like that. He's informed them that cloud's in this state because of his duties for shinra. Lazard is aware of the situation and has deemed cloud's status as temporary off duty. As soon as he is also to work again, he'll be put back on the active duty list.”

Smiling in relief, zack leant back down, picked up his phone and turned it back on. Checking the time, zack almost fell of the couch in horror. 

“Puppy? What's wrong?”  
“Damn, i didn't mean to sleep for so long. I need to get going to the hospital.”

Easing zack back down again, genesis gave him a lingering kiss to his forehead before letting him know the situation. 

“It's alright zack. Angeal will be going over there are he's finished for the day.”

Smiling softly in gratitude, zack gave up and laid back and slowly drifted back to sleep. 

 

“How's cloud's condition?”  
“Same as before. Externally he's fine, it's the internal burns that are the problem. We can't cure them due to the trace elements of mako still in his body. Because of this, I don't feel comfortable to use materia, even if he's in a coma.”

“I see. Thank-you doctor.”  
“Commander hewley? There is a risk of keeping a healthy person on ventilator for too long. I think it would be for the best if you inform the other's to come down as soon as possible.”

Raising an eyebrow, angeal stepped out to call genesis and sephiroth as per the doctor's instructions. 

Twenty minutes later, the two along with zack had arrived. 

“So. You want to wake up cloud and then heal him. Won't that cause him pain?”

“Yes. But, the risk of keeping him under is greater than the pain this will cause. Staying still like this, and the healthy tissue will begin to rot. This way, we can heal the burns whilst managing the pain.”

With that explained and a warning to them that the next few minutes will cause distress to them all, the doctor went to turn off the ventilation machine and asked zara to keep a gentle yet firm hold of cloud's head whilst he pulls out the tube that's down his throat. 

Easing the tube out carefully, the doctor pulled the last inch out and then went to retrieve the drugs that will reverse the coma. 

“If any of you wish to leave, now is the time to do so.”

Turning around to see that all of the SOLDIERS had a set look of determination on their faces to stay, the doctor smiled and then proceeded to wake up cloud. 

Blinking away the sleep and drugs, cloud merely looked around owlishly before the pain started to register again. 

And immediately he screamed. 

TBC


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It becomes reality once you open your eyes....

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter follows directly from the one previous.

Burn part 9

Full disclaimer applies. I don't own final fantasy vii, it's world or its characters, nor do I intend to profit from them. All rights belong to Square Enix. 

 

“AHHH!!!”

That was the first thing cloud did when he really woke up and felt the pain of his burns. Pushing cloud down gently, the doctor tried to get through to him but it was no use, cloud only registered the intense feeling of being ripped apart from the inside. 

Having enough of seeing cloud's distress, sephiroth calmly approached, guided the doctor away, stood right by his boyfriend's side, cupped his face and softly spoke to him. 

“CLOUD. Enough, look at me.”  
Stopping his screaming temporarily, cloud brought hazy, tears filled eyes at his superior and quietly spoke. 

“Seph. Sephiroth? It hurts, it hurts so, so much. Please? Please let me sleep, please?”

“I know, but just bare with it for now. Cloud? The doctor here is going to heal the burns. But cloud? This will hurt, so i need you to focus on me and only me. Do you understand?”

Nodding that he understood, sephiroth calmly gave the doctor orders to proceed with the healing and then moved away to give the doctor and zara space to work. 

“I'm not staying. I can't see cloud in anymore pain.”  
“That's fine zack, i'll come with you.”

And with those words from angeal, the pair left, but not before the screaming of cloud had begun anew. 

 

“This isn't right. He, cloud doesn't deserve any of this. Why him, why cloud? There isn't anyone who deserves happiness like him.”

Angeal calmly pulled the young man beside him into a warm hug and allowed the boy to vent. Even angeal could agree with his puppy that this whole mess with cloud was not fair. Another scream reached where they were sitting and immediately zack gripped the sides of his head, covering his ears as if this gesture would block out the screams reaching him. Unfortunately, that trick doesn't work on SOLDIERS. 

And all angeal can do is hold on tighter to zack and hope that this will end soon. 

It was another hour before the door to cloud's room opened up and zara came over. Once close enough, angeal and zack both stood up and waited for zara to give them the news, either the good or the bad kind. However, if the smile was anything to go by on zara's face? It was going to fine.

“The doctor was able to heal eighty percent of cloud's burns. However, he left some behind as any wounds that were there then suddenly were gone, that kind of change could cause cloud and his body to go into a state of shock. We will give him pain medication to dull the sensation and sedatives to help only for when he sleeps. Other than that, cloud is more than stable enough for you to take him home.”

This caused zack to remove himself from angeal and immediately picked up the poor woman and swing her around, all the while saying over and over again 'thank you’ in her ear. And all zara did was hold on tighter and softly whispered   
'your welcome’. Smiling at the scene before him, angeal turned around and headed outside, knowing of a certain major that would like to know of this too. 

 

Three hours later and countless test afterwards, cloud was allowed to leave the hospital and be under the care of the four waiting for him. 

Opening the door, sephiroth stood aside and held it open as genesis came out with a delicate package in his arms. 

Standing up, zack quick marched over and was stopped by sephiroth calmly. 

“Not now zack. Cloud is in a sort of fragile state. He's asleep right now but he could wake up at any moment. The only thing keeping him this way is sheer pain and exhaustion because of said pain. For now, we'll go to genesis's apartment seeing as it's closer to get to. Our ride is waiting outside for us.”

Looking down at cloud's face, zack can see what sephiroth meant. His face looked sunken and his throat was slightly swollen due to the ventilation tube. Cloud also had a thin sheen of sweat covering his face too. Looking up at genesis's face however, zack could only wonder how those two could sit there and watch all of that happen to cloud. 

Releasing a puff, genesis gave zack a little budge with his foot before he spoke. 

“Puppy? Let's get going, shall we? Cloud will have a fit if we were merely standing around with him in this state. It's also getting cold and cloud, save for the blanket he's wrapped in is only wearing a thin t-shirt and jogging bottoms. So then, let's get going before he becomes an icicle.”

And with a smile and a nod, the four left with zack given zara instructions to come over later which she agreed to. 

Reaching home, genesis excused himself and went to his room. Kicking the door open quietly, pulling away his bedspread and lying cloud, blanket and down inside, genesis pulled the bedspread back over cloud's sleeping body and silently watched over him. 

Cloud started whimpering not to long after that and genesis immediately weaved his hand through his hair and soothed him back to sleep. Zack meanwhile, had entered the room when genesis hadn't returned, his logic was that if genesis was taking to long, then something must've happened to cloud. Well, that's zack's theory on it… 

“Hey puppy. You ok?”  
Smiling at his concern, zack quietly approached and sat down carefully beside cloud. 

“Just wondering what happened with you. Thought for sure that you would've come back as soon as cloud was settled in for the night.”

Nodding in understanding, genesis gave cloud one last lingering caress before motioning for zack to follow. 

“I was but cloud got a bit distressed so i was calming him down a little. Now then puppy, let's not keep angeal and sephiroth waiting.”

 

Smiling in understanding, the pair left as silently as they had arrived and went to see the others and how they were doing. 

“Hey, how's cloud?”  
“Sleeping kind of peacefully.”

Nodding in understanding, the pair on the couch shuffled over to give the other two room to sit down. 

“So then, what's going to happen now? I mean, cloud's out of the woods right so everything's fine now, right?”

Turning to look at zack, angeal wrapped an arm around his shoulders and explained what will happen now. 

“Cloud will require rest and recuperation for at least one week. During that time, he'll be doing exercises to ease and relax his muscles that have gone stiff due his hospitalisation. Cloud will also need to start working on his throat and neck muscles too. It's going to take time but cloud will be alright.”

It took a while for the situation to wash over him, but zack knew that cloud was here. He was here and safe. 

And more importantly?  
He's alive. 

TBC


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Allow me this temporary peace...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi.   
> Thanks for those who have seen this out and given this a chance to reach its ending.   
> Here's two chapters for today.   
> Enjoy!!  
> :)

Burn part 10 

Full disclaimer applies. I don't own final fantasy vii, it's world or its characters, nor do I intend to profit from them. All rights belong to Square Enix. 

'This is gen's room’.

That was the first thing cloud thought when he opened his eyes the following day. Cloud slept well throughout yesterday and didn't makes so much as a squeak. So much so, that zack periodically checked on him to make sure that he was still breathing, much to the annoyance and amusement of genesis and angeal. Sephiroth merely sat with him for a couple of hours before leaving him be. 

Grunting with the effort to get himself up into a sitting position, cloud was so focused in his task that he didn't realise until the last minute that genesis was watching him. 

“Hey there precious. You doing ok there?”  
“Gen!” And that calling of his lover's name was punctuated with cloud's inelegant falling of the bed. 

Wincing at cloud's fall, genesis swallowed his laugh and helped the clearly unstable man back on his feet. Once both were back to sitting on the bed prior to the fall, genesis pulled cloud into his arms. Cradling his head, genesis spoke softly to his temple. 

“Easy there precious. You have been in a coma for a week. Your muscles have stiffened so you won't be able to move around so easily.”

“I think that my falling off the bed may have told me that.” was cloud's raspy reply. Hearing his vocal problems, genesis excused himself and went to get cloud some water. Once he had returned and gave cloud the glass, genesis sat down beside him, with a caress to the back of his head, genesis spoke up. 

“Cloud? How are you feeling? Any pain?”  
Swallowing his mouthful of water, cloud placed the glass down on the side table, albeit shakily and responded to his question. 

“A little but it's not as bad as when i had woke up yesterday. How's major garren and the others?”

Smiling softly at his concern for others before his own well being, gently placed a lingering kiss to his temple and reassured him. 

“They are all fine. Mack will be checking in on you later on today. In the meantime, let's say you and i watch some TV and relax. Hmm?”

With a gentle nod, genesis helped cloud up, and with an arm around his waist, both took their time to the living room.   
Sitting down on the couch, genesis went to get some more water for cloud, some soft textured food and a blanket. Once all of said items were gathered, genesis placed the jug of water on the table along with cloud's and his own sandwich and immediate wrapped the boy up in the blanket which caused giggles to erupt from cloud who was unintentionally being tickled by genesis. 

“I never knew that you were ticklish.”  
“Blame zack for that.”

“Blame me for what?”

Sitting up slowly, cloud gaped at his now present lover, and immediately cloud disentangled himself from both the blanket and genesis and all but leapt into an unsuspecting zack. 

Gently grabbing hold of cloud, zack span him around slowly, placed his feet back on terra firma again and once cloud was stable, zack cupped his face and softly spoke to him. 

“Hey you. You kept me waiting for a while. Are you alright?”

Nodding with tears in his eyes, cloud didn't verbally respond. Instead, he stretched his arms, just barely and wrapped them around zack's neck. 

Zack, who had cloud in his arms a bit more tighter looked up at genesis who was merely Smiling softly at the pair. 

“Why don't you two come and sit down. It's not very comfortable looking standing in the hallway.”

Smiling rather michevoulsy, zack swung cloud up and carried him bridal style back to where genesis was. Which caused cloud to let out a girly squeal that caused the other two to laugh. 

Sitting down with cloud still in his grasp, zack greeted genesis before turning his attention to the cute, blond bundle in his arms. Grabbing the blanket that cloud discarded, zack threw it over himself and cloud and got himself comfortable. All the while, massaging cloud's head, neither of them noticed that cloud had begun sobbing until it was too late. 

Pulling away carefully, zack turned his head slightly more to his angle of sight, and once he did so, zack pulled some tissues out of the box on the coffee table and wiped away the tears that fell whist genesis gave cloud's hands a gentle squeeze while he spoke to him. 

“Precious? What happened, what's made you upset?”

Shaking his head negativity, cloud merely pulled himself up from zack, much to his confusion and went back to genesis's bedroom and with the telltale noise of the lock being put in place, both of them knew… 

Cloud has shut them out. 

And worse of all?

Neither knew why. 

TBC


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Let me feel.....

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter follows directly from the one previous.   
> :)

Burn part 11

Full disclaimer applies. I don't own final fantasy vii, it's world or its characters, nor do I intend to profit from them. All rights belong to Square Enix. 

 

“What do you mean that cloud has locked himself in your room?”  
“Would you perhaps like me to speak in wutainese? He was fine in zack's arms. Then all of a sudden, he started crying, then he got up without a sound and locked himself in my room.”

This line of questioning had been going on for about twenty minutes. 

No sooner had cloud barricaded himself, sephiroth had called to see how he was doing and this was a result. Before sephiroth could start another round, the doorbell went off, signalling an arrival. 

Saying goodbye to sephiroth with a promise to call him back, genesis went to get the door and was thanking every deity out there. 

“Mack. Aren't you a sight for sore eyes”.  
Snorting at genesis's remark, mack pulled off his coat and entered the apartment. 

“You knew that i was coming over. What's going on?”

Sighing heavily, genesis gave him the rundown. Once the explanation was done, although mack's expression had darkened somewhat, he had an air of understanding around him. 

“Alright. Where's zack?”  
“Sitting down beside the door, incase cloud may come out or needed someone to talk to. So far, cloud's done neither.”

Smiling softly at his concern, mack gave genesis a quick squeeze to his shoulder and went to help out his S.I.C.

Signalling for zack not to give away his presence, mack merely took zack's place, who stood up and went to genesis's side and began talking to his young charge. 

“Cloud. I really like to see you. Please, can you just open the door a little?”

Hearing no response, zack was just about to kick up a fuss when cloud did as mack had instructed. 

Through a creak, mack could clearly see how much worry and sadness is on cloud's face. 

“Kid. What's going on? Talk to me,you know that you can. Please.”

Sniffing and releasing a puff of air, cloud whispered so softly that the three had to really focus on his words. 

“I. Don't want to wake up.”  
“Why? What will happen if you did?”  
“Then i'll be all alone again. That i'll be in the hospital bed again, that i might not wake up.”  
“Cloud? Give me your hand.”

Frowning but nevertheless doing as instructed, cloud was shocked to feel the warmth of his hand. Looking up at his major's face, cloud all but fell apart right there and then. Mack, with a bit of help from genesis, managed to pry the door open without breaking it and more importantly, without hurting cloud. 

Pulling away from the door, mack all but dragged the confused boy into his arms. Once cloud had stopped struggling, mack pulled back, cupped his face and made him listen to what he had to say. 

“You are home cloud. This? It's all here. Here, i'll show you.”

Taking away one of his hands, mack drew out the same knife that cloud uses and gave him a little nick which instantly made him flinch. Looking up with fearful yet hope and tear filled eyes, cloud rubbed his now cut finger with his middle finger, watching as the blood began to stick to his fingers. Silently, cloud asked him a question without any words being spoken, fortunately mack understood. 

“You woke up cloud. You're here.”  
Hearing that, cloud immediately smiled softly before he fell into his major's arms.  
Standing up with the man in his arms, mack gave genesis a warm smile and softly spoke. 

“I think that cloud has been somewhat overwhelmed by all of this. Let's give cloud some space and rest, he'll be fine soon enough.”

Smiling in gratitude, genesis motioned for mack to place the boy back to his bed. Once he was safely tucked in, mack placed a plaster to his cut index finger, gave him a caress to his forehead before the trio headed back to the living room, all the while making sure that the door was ajar and that the light and sounds from the next room could be heard from where cloud is without it disturbing him.

Four hours later, sephiroth and angeal had returned from work and as soon as they headed to the group, genesis spoke softly to them, instantly silencing any questions they may have. 

“Cloud's asleep right now. Mack here is a genius. Don't let him go.”

Laughing at genesis's praise, mack waved off the looks of confusion on sephiroth's face and explained the situation better than genesis did. 

“Cloud was a bit overwhelmed by all of this. He just needed to be grounded somewhat. Cloud will be alright now but for now just give him a bit of space. He'll pull out of his funk soon enough. Now then, as much as i would like to stay for longer, unfortunately my men have a endurance test to get ready for. Excuse me. General, commanders, if you need anything please don't hesitate to contact me.”

Thanking mack, angeal saw the man out whilst sephiroth went to see cloud for himself. 

Entering the room, sephiroth could only see the top of cloud's head, laughing softly, sephiroth whispered a promise to his sleeping beauty before he left. 

'You are here.’

 

TBC


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We are all allowed to take things as they come.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi.   
> Thanks so, so much for the attention that this story has governed, it means a lot. I had decided to cut five chapters off. As i feel that having them would be fine, but it may drag the story down.   
> Anyways, here are two more chapters for today and i will be posting the last two tomorrow.   
> Enjoy!!  
> :)

Burn part 12 

Full disclaimer applies. I don't own final fantasy vii, it's world or its characters, nor do I intend to profit from them. All rights belong to Square Enix. 

 

Angeal had begun to prepare breakfast for the day when zack came barrelling in like a puppy he's nicknamed after. 

Shifting away the hot frying pan out of reach, angeal merely raised one of his eyebrows and silently asked zack for an explanation for his energetic entrance. 

“It's cloud's first breakfast with us since he woke up from his coma. I can't help but be happy that's all.”

Smiling in understanding, angeal turned his attention back making breakfast for the five of them. But, he couldn't let zack off so easily… 

“I appreciate that you are happy, but refrain from acting recklessly here in the kitchen please.”

That caused zack to whine and angeal to laugh. 

Genesis had came in sporting his uniform minus the red coat and helped dish out the food angeal had made, all the while zack was glancing backwards to genesis's bedroom to see if cloud was coming out. Since cloud was released from the hospital, they had all decided that cloud would be staying at genesis's until he was fit to be left alone. His muscles had regained some of its strength but not all of it. And seeing as genesis had more time off as his schedule was the most flexible than the others, he was the only candidate for cloud to stay with. 

Cloud's sleeping pattern however, was suffering. He, like all of the others apartments, had his own room in each when he came round just to chill out in, to relax before being overwhelmed by their unique Personalities. But ever since the events of three days ago, cloud had been suffering nightmares to the point that he would disturb genesis remorsefully and ask if he could stay with him. Naturally, genesis gave into him each and every time, but cloud would do this'll with all of them when genesis was called in for an emergency. Sometimes though, sephiroth had seen cloud on his couch with a blanket around his shoulders and softly whimpering. And all sephiroth could do was embrace him and let cloud know that he was alright. That he was safe. No matter how welcomed he was to wake them up, that he wouldn't be scolded or reprimanded for behaving like a child, sometimes cloud couldn't bring himself to disturb the hard working men. 

Anyone can see that cloud's hospitalisation had affected him greatly, even cloud himself knew that. It didn't matter how much he knew that he was here, a part of his subconsciousness was telling him otherwise. And that, was what scared cloud the most. Regardless of his rationale, he was afraid. The others knew that, it helped that cloud himself had asked for their help and they did, but cloud had a mental block that no matter how much they tried to reassure him, it wasn't enough to push through. 

They had called zara, who kindly said that once her shift was over in the afternoon, that she'll come over and keep cloud company. That, the men thought might be enough to help cloud deal with this. 

They weren't worried about his sanity or his health just yet, but eventually something had to give. They just hoped it wouldn't be at the cost of his life. 

“Puppy. Stop staring at my room, cloud's in there with sephiroth. He'll come out when he's ready. Now, eat something before i force feed you.” 

Zack merely stuck out his tongue before eating his plateful that could feed three grown men. 

 

“Sephiroth? Can you please tell me something.”

“Anything that you would like to hear, i'll tell you.”

“Am i going to get through this?”

 

Without a sound, sephiroth merely brought cloud up and into his arms. Once both were settled against the headrest, sephiroth placed butterfly kisses over his head and softly spoke to him. 

“Yes cloud. That goes without saying. I and the others won't abandon you to your own suffering. That i will promise you.”

Before cloud could give sephiroth his gratitude, zack had apparently had enough of waiting and had decided to come over to them and casually threw an arm around his shoulders and spoke. 

“Cloud. You're late for breakfast. C'mon.”  
And without a response from cloud, zack gently picked up cloud, carried him bridal style and left. Leaving behind a amused sephiroth to follow at a slower pace. 

“Zack. We told you to give cloud some time. He's not going to vanish.”  
“I know, but i just can't wait like you guys. And besides, cloud knows me and my behaviour. It's all good.”

Sighing in amusement, angeal took the poor boy away from the puppy and placed him between himself and genesis.   
“Good morning cloud.”  
“Morning angeal.”

Smiling softly, angeal placed a pancake, waffles and a ration of bacon on his plate before speaking. 

“You eat whatever and how much you like cloud. It's alright, take your time. Ok?”

Nodding in understanding and gratitude, cloud picked up his fork clumsily and began to eat. Or he tried to, as soon as he broke a piece of pancake away, his fingers locked up and the fork hit the plate with a clank. Smiling softly, angeal wrapped an arm around his shoulders and helped him out with his food, gaining a embarrassed, softly spoken 'sorry’ and 'thank you’ which angeal waved away with a gentle kiss to his temple and carried on his task of feeding them both. 

Sephiroth had returned to see zack pushing more food onto cloud's plate, with cloud laughing at him with breathed out words of 'cut it out zack!!’ between his laughing which caused zack to laugh along with cloud and served to fuel his actions further. 

“Zack. Please calm down a little bit, hmm? Your tiring the rest of us out here.”

Smiling at his general, zack merely patted the seat beside him in invitation and the five sat down in a comforting silence and enjoyed their respective meals. 

“Cloud!! Hi, how are you feeling?”

“Hey zara. I'm good thanks. And yourself?”

“Between you and i? I'm glad im off duty!!”

Three hours later once the four had left, but not before smothering cloud with kisses and hugs and cloud was surprised by the visit of zara. 

“Zara. Can, can i talk to you. About some things?”

“You don't need to ask that cloud. Go ahead.”

Smiling softly in gratitude, cloud inhaled deeply before he spoke. 

“I'm losing my mind here. I know that it's all real, that i have returned back from the hospital. But, there's a part of me that is stubbornly holding on to the notion that this is a dream. The others have been nothing but kind and loving and understanding, but it's driving me up the wall here.”

Smiling in understanding, zara pulled out a bottle of pills and explained what they are and how they worked. 

“Coma patients have documented that during their time asleep, they had felt a sense of disconnect with the world, even after a few months had passed. They felt as if they were frozen in place, that the world was still moving and turning but they weren't moving with it. That they were merely watching the seasons pass.”

All cloud can do when he heard that was sit there numbly and replay what he had heard. 'That's Exactly how i feel’.

Smiling as comprehension hit cloud, zara opened the bottle up, took two pills and shoved them down her throat. Once she had swallowed them, she smiled and told cloud about them. 

“These are herbal pills.they are designed to ease anxiety and aid in sleep. I take them to ease the pressure of being a nurse on the front lines. Take two an hour before you go to bed or one before you go to work. There are no side effects and you will be fine to drive.”

Taking the bottle that was offered, cloud opened them and sniffed, immediately turning away. 

“They stink!!!”  
Laughing, zara agreed. “That they do! But it won't cause bad breath. It doesn't hurt to try them. They are natural so there is no withdrawal symptoms either. Give them a go and if you get along with them, i'll get you a prescription for it. Ok?”

Smiling in gratitude, cloud nodded in agreement before zara pulled him into her arms and squeezed the life out of him. There were muscles beneath that kindness of hers. 

 

The day seemed to pass by. Cloud was currently sitting down on the floor and was doing crunches to get his strength back while zara who had finally listened to cloud to make herself at home, had taken her shoes off,with cloud's blanket around her, she was watching him and reading a couple of magazines she brought with her. All the while the TV given the room a soft sound to fill in the din. 

“Cloud. I'm back.”  
Was cloud's and zara's only warning when genesis appeared in the doorway. Immediately, zara had tried to get going when she heard genesis laugh softly and spoke to her. 

“You my dear, are more than welcome here zara. Please relax, would you like me to fetch some food for you.”

“Thank-you, that's really kind of you.”

“No problem. Cloud. Precious, what are you doing down there?”

Finishing his last rep, cloud got up, gave genesis a quick but loving kiss before heading to take a shower. He was impressed that he actually made himself sweat. Looking at zara in confusion, zara giggled and explained what had happened. 

“I assume that you have heard of herbal remedies?”  
“Yes. There an alternative method to deal with problems without the chemicals found in other medication.”

Humming in response, zara pulled out the pills again and handed them over to genesis and explained what she did. 

“These will help anxiety and aid in sleep. Cloud's going to give them go and if they work, i'll drop of some more   
It doesn't hurt to try.”

“Indeed they don't. Thank-you zara, for everything.”  
“You're more than welcome.”

Smiling softly, genesis took off his coat and entered his kitchen.   
With zara helping out in more ways than one, genesis was able to let go of some of his worries for cloud. 

That for now, was enough. 

TBC


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It is all a matter of circumstance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter follows directly from the one previous. Also, in regards to the herbal remedies in this story, i've based that on the pills that i take. They really do stink but they do work.   
> :D

Burn part 13

Full disclaimer applies. I don't own final fantasy vii, it's world or its characters, nor do I intend to profit from them. All rights belong to Square Enix. 

It was close to eight in the evening when the other three had come home and immediately they felt the difference in the atmosphere of genesis's apartment. 

Cloud was leaning against genesis and was letting out belly clenching laughs at whatever zara had said. 

“Hey guys. What's going on?”

Smiling at zack, cloud merely grabbed hold of his hand, dragged him around and pulled him down to sit beside him. Once zack had did so, cloud placed his legs in zack's lap and began talking. 

“I'm fine now zack. Zara has been helping me out and hopefully i will be able to sleep alright now.”

Smiling softly, zack began to massage the appendages in his lap whilst looking at genesis who merely nodded in agreement before gently getting up and seeing to the other two. Once genesis had left, zack gently pulled cloud into his arms and murmured to his temple. 

“I'm glad you are alright. You had me scared, you know?”

“I do. I'm sorry zack. I mean it.”

Smiling softly, zack placed a lingering kiss to his temple and turned around to see zara getting her shoes on. 

“You leaving now?”

Smiling softly, zara put a look of mock annoyance and spoke. 

“Yes because of idiocy around the SOLDIERS, i'm never out of employment here.”

Laughing softly at her display, zack gently pulled zara in and gave her a peck to her cheek and whispered into her ear. 

“Thank-you zara. For helping cloud. And not just for today either.”

Smiling, zara reciprocated the action before saying goodnight to the others and a now asleep cloud. 

Cloud remained asleep well into eleven when the others had left to their respective apartments. Once genesis had a shower and got ready for bed, he was surprised to see cloud weakly thrashing around on the couch. 

Squatting down beside him, genesis ran a comforting hand through his hair, all the while murmuring into his ear softly. 

“Cloud. Cloud precious, wake up for me. Please. Come back to me and my voice cloud. It's alright to do so.”

Tears had begun to fall from cloud's closed eyes and soon enough, cloud opened them up completely, seeing a worried but Smiling genesis by his head. 

Wiping away his hair and tears, genesis gave him a firm but nevertheless gentle kiss and softly spoke. 

“You had a nightmare my precious. Are you alright now?”

Shakily bringing up a hand to rub at his eyes rather roughly, genesis quickly grabbed hold of his hand and pulled him into a warm hug and murmured in his ear.   
“Stop cloud, you're going to hurt yourself. Let me help.”

Laughing bitterly, cloud yanked, or least tried to, to get his wrist out of genesis's grip. When it was painfully obvious that genesis wasn't going to let go, cloud began struggling and sobbing his pleas. 

“Gen, please let me go. I'm fine now. So please, let me go.”

Genesis was worried now. More than before when cloud had a nightmare. But this? This wasn't what he was expecting, least of all from cloud.   
Having enough, genesis cupped his face and gave him a firm but nevertheless gentle scolding. 

“ENOUGH cloud!!! Enough.” 

And with that, cloud immediately fell apart right there and then. At that, genesis gathered the boy, carried him bridal style back to his room. Once he had cloud in his bed, genesis went to get a washcloth, wetted it and came back to carefully clean cloud's face from his tears and snot. Laughing softly at cloud's groans of disgust, genesis returned the cloth back and climbed back into bed. 

Once settled in, genesis gathered cloud back into his lap and began rocking the pair back and forth as cloud's sobs had returned, albeit softly. 

“Cloud. What happened? What's going on?”

Sighing shakily, cloud leaned in closer to which genesis pulled cloud back tighter and softly gave him a lingering kiss to his forehead before allowing cloud to speak. 

“I don't know. It's, i'm alright, i feel it. But lately, i need to get over this, this rut i'm in, to get over my hospitalisation.”

Humming in understanding, genesis laid them down and before the pair drifted off, genesis spoke softly. 

“I think that you may like to go back to work. But, we'll talk about this in the morning. For now my precious, get some sleep. I love you.”

“Love you too, genesis.”

It may appear as if genesis is sweeping the matter aside. The fact remains, that cloud isn't really in the mental capacity to think this through right now. 

So tomorrow when the four come by, they will speak about this. 

And zara too. Because if anything that they had learned recently, zara had a keen eye. 

Especially when it concerns cloud.   
And that was most important thing. 

TBC


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's time to face reality for what it is.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi.   
> I've decided to not make everyone wait until tomorrow for the ending so I'm posting the last two tonight.   
> I want to thank you all for reading this.   
> Enjoy the last two. 
> 
> :D

Burn part 14

Full disclaimer applies. I don't own final fantasy vii, it's world or its characters, nor do I intend to profit from them. All rights belong to Square Enix. 

 

“I really think that you should take a day, maybe two. This isn't something that you can shrug off so easily.”

Surprisingly, it was angeal who had commented first on the matter. After the three men had come over for breakfast, which angeal and genesis both made, the five had sat down to eat with zara arriving two minutes later. They were informed of cloud's mini breakdown yesterday evening and none of them were surprised that happened. They didn't judge or belittle cloud, they merely wrapped him with love and support. 

Angeal had decided to be the first to give his opinion whilst cloud was held in zack's lap, with his arms wrapped gently around his waist and cloud's own around zack's neck loosely. 

Stabbing at a piece of sausage and offering it to cloud who snorted in amusement and accepted the food, zack chuckled, cut his own piece of food and gave his own opinion. 

“Well i'm ok with you heading back to work. So long as it's for the right reasons to do so. And as long as you don't dive straight in, that you relax and lead from the back so to speak.”

Smiling softly, cloud reassured zack's blatant fears. 

“I'm not going back to escape this. I know that what happened to me can't be ignored and i'm not. But, i feel as if i'm at my limit of sitting around and twiddling my thumbs.”

Nodding in understanding, zack gently leaned over cloud and placed a lingering kiss to his temple before feeding the pair of them again. 

Next it was genesis's opinion. 

“I would love more than ever for you to go back to what you love precious. But, i have to agree with angeal on this. Not only had you pushed yourself during the mako retrieval mission, you also went into the stages of mako poisoning and you were inflicted with internal burns too. That's a lot to get over, to say nothing of the fact that you were placed in a coma for your safety.”

Smiling softly in gratitude for genesis's opinion, cloud who just missed getting stabbed in the cheek by a bit pancake which caused zack to giggle out an apology, turned to see sephiroth Smirking at the two's behaviour at breakfast and spoke. 

“I think that you are in the right frame of mind to return to work. However, it's your health that concerns me cloud. It's not about you moving around freely and getting by, you for all tense of purposes, still have second degree internal burns that have yet to be healed. I know that you are not happy about just sitting around, but your health and wellbeing are more important to us than your lack of things to do. I believe that you'll be available to work again in roughly a month's time, at the very least cloud.”

Sighing heavily but in understanding, cloud had to accept that the others, save for zack didn't think that he was ready to go back to his duties. 

“Erm. May i give my opinion, if that is ok with you all?”  
Nodding in confirmation to zara's question, genesis motioned that the table, so to speak, is free for her to speak. 

“Let me take a look at cloud and his wounds to see how they have improved and if they have healed to a above standard, then perhaps cloud could return to a part time shift. That way, major garren can keep an eye on him and cloud can see how he's coping. You all say that cloud is injured, which is the truth, but you can't find out how much he can handle if you keep him stowed away, so to speak. With all due respect to each and every one of you here, but i think that cloud's a lot stronger than perhaps you are unwilling to see because it's not enhanced.”

At that, angeal frowned softly and spoke. 

“You maybe right on that zara. Ok, zara take cloud down for the tests and report back to us regarding the findings. Then we'll take it from there.”

Smiling, both cloud, zack and zara gave each other a three way fist bump to celebrate the little victory. 

Leaving sephiroth, genesis and angeal to look on in amusement at just how alike those three are. 

 

“Is what zara said true? Do you think that i'm weak?”

It was another hour before the four had to report for duty. And something that zara had said during breakfast had resonated with cloud. And to make matters worse, none of them had confirmed or denied what she had said. In cloud's opinion that was worse than being told that you couldn't work just yet. 

And cloud wasn't shy to ask what the others thought. 

Looking insulted, zack gently pulled cloud into his arms and resolutely denied that. 

“No cloud. No, that's not true. I always believed that you would go far, regardless of where you were in the military. I meant what i said that i think that you should come back to work. You are far from weak cloud.”

Nodding, albeit shakily, cloud gave in and leaned into zack's arms completely whilst angeal, sephiroth and genesis   
Had entered with their gear in their arms. They had heard what cloud had asked but unfortunately they really didn't have the time to go in depth with the conversation the way they wanted to and the way cloud deserved it to be. Letting cloud know that they promise to talk about this more thoroughly when they got home, the four left. 

Leaving behind a confused and saddened cloud behind them. 

It was close to eight in the evening by the time the four had returned from their work. Once the four had a shower, a the change of clothes and some food, the five got a chance to speak about this. 

Settling down beside cloud, genesis pulled cloud into his arms and relaxed against the back of the couch and started the conversation off. 

“Cloud. Never doubt that we think you are weak. That is far beyond the truth of what we think of you.”

“Then why. Why won't you allow me to return to work, regardless of my wounds? Why did none of you refute what zara had said. Why?”

This time it was angeal who spoke up. 

“It's got nothing to do with physical strength here cloud. It's got everything to do with your health and state of mind. You were exhausted right from the beginning. Add to that the mako poisoning and the coma's that your body put yourself in and the one the medical team had to administer. Cloud? Please don't mistake our silence for admission of your supposed ‘lack of strength’. That's not the case here.”

Refusing to look up, cloud merely nodded that he heard what was said before sephiroth gave his two cents on the matter. 

“Cloud. Do you feel that you can return to work on a full time basis?”

Looking up through his hair, cloud merely nodded and softly spoke. 

“Honestly? I won't know until i actually go back.”

“And therein lies the problem. We, with the exception of zack feel as if you should rest some more but we also know that this is important to you as well as us. It's a tough dilemma to say the least.”

Cloud didn't know what make of this. They were all heaping praise and respect for him but at the same time, none of thought that he was ready for duty. 

“So basically, you think that i'm strong but not strong enough to handle this. Is that it?”

“No cloud. That's not it. It's just that..”

“NO ZACK. It's exactly that. You all aren't saying that i'm capable of doing this!! Well fine then, if you want me here then i'll stay! But at least have the decency to say it outright!!”

And with that, a very hurt cloud walked away. 

“CLOUD!!”  
“No pup. Leave cloud alone for now. I'll go and speak to him in a minute.” And with angeal's words, zack leant back down and frowned deeply. How did it turn out like this. 

He didn't know how long he was under the shower for, but he was aware of the water turning slightly colder than before. He knew that they had better plumbing than the barracks he used to stay in, but considering that all four of them had used this, it's not surprising that the hot water was at its end. 

He was however, aware of a warm, big towel being draped over his shoulders and the water being shut off. Looking up, cloud saw angeal hunched over him. 

“Angeal?”  
“Come. Let's talk, ok. Also let's get you dry and dressed otherwise you'll catch a cold.”

Nodding wearily, cloud allowed himself to be picked up. 

Hopefully angeal will be more reasonable than the others. 

TBC


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It no longer burns in the same way...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the ending :(  
> Thanks again and enjoy the show.   
> This has been 'burn' and i've been thesilentone. Thanks again.   
> I will be back here to this fandom again, that's a promise :D

Burn part 15

Full disclaimer applies. I don't own final fantasy vii, it's world or its characters, nor do I intend to profit from them. All rights belong to Square Enix. 

Epilogue. 

“Alright commander strife. It's your call. What's the plan?”

Smiling at his major, cloud turned around, studied the map and made his plans. 

“We'll head east.”  
“Alright men! You heard the commander. Let's head east.”  
“YES SIR!”

It's been two months since cloud was hospitalised and was infected with mako poisoning. As promised by angeal, they allowed cloud to return back to duty. Once zara had informed them that cloud's burns had all but healed, the other's really didn't have a valid reason for cloud to stay at home. But, they were adamant that cloud will have to take breaks when he feels the grip of tiredness on him. They knew how stubborn cloud is, that he would keep going until he dropped, that wasn't going to happen now. 

So here's the results of the conversation. Cloud was on part time with major garren promising to watch over cloud closely. 

“Cloud? You're doing alright?”

Sitting down on the hood of their vehicles, cloud merely nodded, took a sip of water and responded. 

“I'm fine, a bit tired but ok. I know that the others have told you to watch over me, didn't they?”

Looking at cloud sheepishly, mack gave cloud a warm grip to his shoulder before responding to his question. 

“You can't blame them for worrying about you. Cloud, i won't pull you back or restrict your movements. I myself care about you also. Take it easy for now, the men won't be back yet.”

Nodding reluctantly in agreement, cloud sat back and waited for the mission to be completed, which earned him a laugh from his major. 

 

“Hey genesis, cloud's home!!!”  
“Don't shout puppy, i can hear you know.”

Kicking off his boots and removing his swords and harness, cloud merely laughed at the behaviour of the pair in angeal's apartment. Cloud had just crossed the threshold when sephiroth snuck up behind him and picked him up bridal style, which of course scared the crap out of cloud and zack simultaneously. 

Laughing softly, sephiroth pulled cloud up and placed a lingering kiss to his forehead before sitting the pair down. 

Placing cloud on his lap, sephiroth began to massage his calves and spoke softly. 

“How are you feeling after today? Any pain?”

“No, not really. I'm tired but otherwise i'm good.”

Humming in approval, sephiroth carried on his task and watched as zack and genesis were a playful argument in the kitchen. 

“I told you, my mission was grosser than yours!!”

“I guarantee you, mine was worse than yours.”

“Was not.”

Smiling at the scene, sephiroth merely raised one of his eyebrows whilst cloud looked up through sleepy eyes and asked what is going on. 

“What are they fighting about Seph?”  
“The nature of their missions today. They are disputing the disgusting nature of what they did today.”

“I see.” Glancing sideways, sephiroth smiled softly as cloud slowly began to fall asleep. 

“I swam through the guts of a Marlborough!!”

“Maybe. But, i had to bring back the rotten corpse of a zolom from the outskirts.”

“Rank genesis!!”

“Enough. Both of you stop, cloud's asleep.” And sure enough, both zack and genesis turned around and indeed saw the young man curled up against sephiroth, soundly asleep. 

Sitting down gently, zack gently pulled cloud's feet into his lap and began massaging them. All the while murmuring outwards that he was sure that his mission was the grosses out of the pair. 

“Please stop, the pair of you. Both are equally distasteful. Now please don't add any more, we're about to eat.” Was angeal's final statement of this matter of the topic.

Helping angeal place the plates of food down for them, genesis gave cloud a worried look and whispered. 

“Should we wake up cloud? He needs to eat. Especially after his long shift and journey he had today.”

Smiling softly at genesis's words, angeal merely nodded in comprehension before he spoke. 

“No, let him rest for now. He can eat later, we all have tomorrow off so there's no need to rush the evening away.”

That decided, the four began to enjoy the evening. 

Cloud woke up about three hours later and angeal went to get cloud something to eat as cloud wiped away the remaining sleep in his eyes. 

“It's alright cloud. Relax, when you've had something to eat you can go back to sleep. You look like you need it.”

Nodding in agreement to sephiroth's words, cloud looked up at his face and softly smiled. It's been a hellish few weeks but cloud knows that he will be alright. 

After all, he's proofed it enough times. 

He always bounces back. 

The End.


End file.
